Henning: Fall veggie patch as easy as doing the math

Posted: Wednesday, October 25, 2000

I'm still waiting for a television weather forecaster to come out and say, ''You know what folks, I looked at all these charts and graphs and I still have no idea what the weather is going to be like tomorrow.''

Frank

Henning

Growing Places

more Henning columns

At least when I'm watching a political debate, I know the candidates are lying, or with professional wrestling, I know the action is fake.

Day-to-day weather patterns have always been unpredictable, but on a grander scale we can pretty much count on some cool weather as winter approaches. For many, the first frost marks the end of the gardening season. Sure the weather can be a little chilly, but in many ways cool-season challenges aren't nearly as difficult as hot, dry, insect- and disease-filled summers.

The vegetables most people grow fall into the tender category: plants like beans, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, squash and peppers. These plants are damaged by light frost and will not produce once the weather turns cold. Other plants like beet, carrot, cauliflower, celery, lettuce and Irish potato can withstand temperatures in the 24-28 degree range. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, garlic, kale, mustard, onion, English pea, radish, spinach and turnip are even more cold-tolerant and can withstand temperatures as low as 24 degrees without serious injury.

Local weather patterns can vary significantly from year to year, and from site to site. Exposure, elevation, slope and protection from wind can all affect a plant's microclimate. Blankets, polyethylene plastic and row covers offer some protection against cold weather, but a hard freeze can still damage plants.

In order to minimize any frost damage, it's best to devise some kind of vegetable-planting strategy. You will need to know two things in order to devise such a strategy: the frost date which correlates with the hardiness of the vegetables you're growing, and the number of days it will take for your crop to mature. In this area the average frost dates are Nov. 8 for 32-degree weather, Nov. 14 for 28-degree weather and Dec. 4 for 24-degree weather.

Most seed packs or transplant labels will give information on how many days it will take for your crop to mature. Take the number of days for maturation, add in a week or so to reduce the risk of frost damage and add time for harvesting. Then simply count backward from the average frost dates for the vegetable you're growing to determine the latest planting date.

No one can truly forecast the weather, but winter weather these last few years has been so mild that many producers have been able to keep vegetables growing all winter long.

For more information on growing vegetables in Georgia see http://www.ces.uga.edu/Agriculture/horticulture/Factsheet.html#Vegetables

For more information on winter temperatures here in Athens see http://www.griffin.peachnet.edu/bae/